Fattoush

Contributed by Preston Maring, MD


Fattoush

Ani Torayan has a catering business serving the San Francisco Bay Area. She submitted her recipe for fattoush — a Middle Eastern bread salad with a distinctive taste influenced by sumac. Sumac has a tangy, lemony taste and is a great addition.

This recipe came to me without any specific amounts of ingredients so I just tried it using enough of one ingredient or another until it looked right. You can do the same.

Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • One head of lettuce, any kind, rinsed, spun dry, and coarsely chopped
  • 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved or 2 large tomatoes, seeded and diced
  • 1/3 bunch parsley, coarsely chopped
  • Small handful of fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped
  • 1 bunch green onions, white and light green parts thinly sliced (red onion works well also)
  • 2 whole wheat pita breads, baked for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees then broken into large bite size pieces
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon sumac
  • Aleppo paprika to taste (mild Turkish chilies mixed with paprika)
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Directions

  1. Add lettuce, tomatoes, parsley, mint leaves, onion, and pita chips to a bowl.
  2. Whisk the remaining ingredients together and toss with the salad. 
  3. Sprinkle with some more sumac. 

Nutrition information (per serving)

  • Calories: 255
  • Total fat: 15 g
  • Saturated fat: 2 g
  • Trans fat: 0 g
  • Cholesterol: 0 mg
  • Sodium: 286 mg
  • Total carbohydrate: 28 g
  • Dietary fiber: 8 g
  • Protein: 6 g